The Hindu : Sport / Volleyball : India looks ahead with confidence

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Tuesday, Aug 14, 2007
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Sport - Volleyball

India looks ahead with confidence

Rayan Rozario

Coimbatore: The boys may be young and many of them a bit raw. But chief national volleyball coach G. E. Sridharan believes that the Indian team’s aggressive mindset and a new sense of togetherness could fetch the side a medal at next month’s Asian Championship in Jakarta.

“That’s a big advantage for a new-look team. But, we need to work hard on three other aspects: the service, reception and block over the next fortnight to hit the medal bracket,” said the former Indian setter.

India has never won a medal at the Asian Championship – its best performance was the fourth-place finish at the last edition in Thailand two years ago. But the recent Asian Central Zone triumph, the Commonwealth Championship silver and the Test series victory against Pakistan offer hope.

The boys, except for a few seniors, will be playing a continental championship for the first time. “So, winning a medal will be a great achievement. But, we also need to be realistic.”

Tough group

Ranked 27th in the world, India is placed in the tough Group ‘D’ along with Korea (World No. 19), Australia (23), Kazakhstan (No. 28), Korea and the UAE (59). “We need to upset one big team, either Australia or Kazakhstan, to advance to the next stage,” says Sridharan.

For the record, India beat Australia in the group stage of the recent Commonwealth Championship in Kolkata, but lost a close contest to the same side in the final. “It was a good effort from the boys. That clearly shows that they can do anything on a given day,” says the Arjuna Awardee.

He says that the first line of defence, the block, is a problem. “Our boys are mostly soft on the block. A killing block is what will fetch us points. We have Sube Singh, Shelton Moses and Pradeep to do the job for us. But they need to be quicker in their blocking movements.”

“Besides the block, we need to be effective in both service and reception. We will start working on these areas later this week at the Bangalore SAI Centre,” he adds.

Setter Ukkara Pandian and universal Mandeep Singh, who are currently in Mexico for the World Youth Championship, will join the team on August 27.

Strong attack

He is happy with his frontline attack, comprising P.S. Srikant, Guruchand Singh, Vibin George and Jitendra Singh. “They came up with strong performances in the Commonwealth Championship and the Test series against Pakistan.”

A few seniors like setter Kapil Dev and universal Sanjay Kumar, who were dropped for the Asian Central Zone Championship, were brought back for the Commonwealth Championship and the Tests. And with the juniors pushing them, Sridharan feels that the two have raised their performance nicely.

“For a moment, it looked as though they had regained their lost touch,” he said after the Coimbatore Test against Pakistan on Sunday night.

Sridharan is all praise for libero Sivarajan. “He is simply fantastic, gives his maximum.” How about Arun Jakhmola? “He is strong in defence but when it comes to reception, Sivarajan stands tall.”

Specific roles have been assigned to the assistant coaches with S. Karimullah, a block specialist, working on the wall, while Harilal, a fitness expert and match analyst, offers valuable inputs in the national camp in Bangalore. “I assure you the team will be in great shape in Jakarta,” says Sridharan. “It is for the boys to deliver.”

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